The present invention relates generally to communications, in particular to routing communications using instant messaging.
A common problem with telephone communications is a busy signal. If a home has one telephone line and it is being used, other calls cannot come through. Some subscribers might have “call waiting” wherein a signal is received that signals an additional incoming call, but typically two calls cannot be taken at once, such as by two people in a household, without a second telephone line.
This is also a problem where the telephone line is occupied by a computer communications session, such as where a modem is using the telephone line. In these cases, there are services, either client-based or server-based, that are used to signal that the incoming call is waiting. For client-based computer call waiting, the user's computer that is using the modem notices a call waiting signal on the line from the telephone company and executes a program to signal the user that a call is coming in. The user can then drop the modem connection and allow the caller to call back in or might be able to catch the caller. For server-based computer call waiting, the fact of a busy signal is communicated from the telephone company's voice system to a server that then initiates a signal through a computer communications system that routes the signal to the user who is on-line.